EU Health Summit Time for Action Monday 26 October 2020

PROGRAMME

13:30-13:40 WELCOME, OBJECTIVES AND STRUCTURE OF THE EVENT by moderator Cathy Smith

PRESENTATION OF THE EU HEALTH COALITION by co-chairs of the EU Health Coalition 13:40-13:55 Mary Lynne Van Poelgeest-Pomfret, President World Federation of Incontinence Patients Nathalie Moll, Director General EFPIA

VIDEO MESSAGE 13:55-14:00 by Jens Spahn, Minister of Health,

KEYNOTE SPEECH 14:00-14:10 of Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety

14:10-14:15 PRESENTATION OF BREAKOUT SESSIONS by moderator Cathy Smith

14:15-14:20 BREAK

14:20-15:30 BREAKOUT SESSIONS IN SEPARATE WEBINARS

Digital health and Policies for health Healthcare systems Research and innovation health data

Moderated by Moderated by Moderated by Moderated by Nick Batey, Nicole Denjoy, Jacqueline Bowman-Busato, Wilfried Ellmeier, EUREGHA Chair COCIR Secretary General EASO EU Policy Lead BioMed Alliance President

Paola Tesori Coggi, Ceri Thompson, Nicolae Ştefănuță, Prof. Martin Landray, Special Advisor, Deputy Head of Unit, DG Member of the European Member of the Regulatory National Technological Clus- CNECT H3 eHealth, Well- Parliament, Renew Affairs Committee within the ter on Life Sciences (ALISEI), being and Ageing Group, Romania European Society of Former Director General for Cardiology Health and Consumers, Dr. Silvano Coletti, Melitta Jakab, Managing Director Chelo- Head Of Office of the WHO Dr. Cristina Bescos, nia Applied Science, Project European Center For Primary Managing Director, Normunds Popens, Innovation Manager Exsca- Health Care located in Alma- EIT Health Spain Deputy Director General for late4CO ty, Kazakhstan Regional Policy, European Sabrina Montante, Commission Gözde Susuzlu, Senior Advisor for EU Affairs, Data Saves Lives coordinator, ISS- National Institute of European Patients’ Forum Health, Italy

Marcus Zimmermann- Rittereiser, COCIR Digital Health Com- mittee Chair and Siemens Healthineers

1 15:30-15:35 BREAK

Overview of conclusions by breakout sessions’ moderators 15:35-16:05 Pool to trigger debate Q&A with the audience

INTERVIEW 16:05-16:25 with Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth

VIDEO MESSAGE 16:25-16:35 by Andrea Ammon, Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)

PANEL DISCUSSION ON A STRONGER EUROPEAN HEALTH UNION AND COVID-19 Dolors Montserrat, Member of the , Group of the European People’s Party, Spain Despina Spanou, Head of Cabinet of Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas 16:35-17:25 Nicola Bedlington, Special Advisor European Patients Forum Rui Santos Ivo, President of INFARMED, National Authority of Medicines and Healthcare Products, Portugal Q&A with the audience

Concluding Remarks by co-chairs of the EU Health Coalition 17:25-17:30 Mary Lynne Van Poelgeest-Pomfret, President World Federation of Incontinence Patients Nathalie Moll, Director General EFPIA

2 SPEAKERS

Stella Kyriakides European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety

On 1 December 2019, Ms. Kyriakides became the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety. In the area of health, she is leading the Commission’s work on Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, to help improve cancer prevention and care and is in charge of developing a new Pharmaceutical Strategy to ensure that Europe has enough affordable medicines to meet its needs.

Her responsibilities also include supporting Member States in improving the quality and sustainability of health systems, creating a European Health Data Space to promote health-data exchange and support research. She is also in charge of ensuring full implementation of the European One Health Action Plan against Antimicrobial Resistance and working towards a global agreement on antimicrobials.

On food safety, Commissioner Kyriakides is leading the new ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy for sustainable food, covering every step in the food chain from production to consumption. Her responsibilities also include ensuring enforcement of animal welfare laws and promoting European standards globally as well as ensuring enforcement of EU laws on food safety and animal and plant health and leading the work to protect plant health, reduce dependency on pesticides and support low-risk and non-chemical alternatives.

During the COVID-19 crisis, she has been leading the Commissions work to coordinate the EU’s health response and support Member States to tackle the outbreak. This includes working to ensure that essential goods and services can flow freely across borders, essential medicines and medical devices are available at affordable prices, and leading the EU’s efforts to secure access to safe and effective therapeutics and vaccines.

Previously, Ms. Stella Kyriakides worked as a clinical psychologist in the Mental Health Services of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Cyprus in the area of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, from 1979-2006. In 2006, she was elected to the Cyprus Parliament and was re-elected in 2011 and 2016 for the Democratic Rally party, of which she was the Vice-President. In 2012, she was appointed Head of the Cyprus Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). In 2017 she was elected President of the PACE, thus becoming the 30th President of the Assembly.

She founded the First Breast Cancer advocacy organisation in Cyprus, Europa Donna - Cyprus where she served as President from 2000-2015. She was also President of the European Breast Cancer Coalition Europa Donna.

She received many awards in recognition of her relentless efforts and work in support of women’s rights, children and patients’ rights and had numerous publications, research contributions/articles on children related matters and cancer in Cyprus and other European countries.

3 Mariya Gabriel Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth

Mariya Gabriel is the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education, Youth and Sport. Under her leadership the new Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, and the cultural strand of Creative Europe programmes (2021-2027) will be defined and implemented.

Her main priorities are excellence in research, innovation and education (ERA, EEA, EIA) ; tackling the R&I divide in Europe ; Europe as a leader in strategic innovation areas through the digital and green transition, with a particular attention to young people and regions. “No one left behind” and “Think out of the box” are her mottos.

Between 2017 and 2019, Mariya Gabriel was European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society. She proposed the new Digital Europe programme, worked on EU Strategy on AI, disinformation online, cybersecurity and launched the EuroHPC strategy. She has extensively engaged with external EU partners to enhance digital cooperation, in particular with the Western Balkans and Africa.

She was elected Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 2009, 2014 and 2019. Mariya Gabriel is First Vice-President of the European People‘s Party (EPP), and since 2012 Vice-President of EPP Women.

Commissioner Gabriel is board member of the United Nations youth programme Generation Unlimited (GenU). She has been ranked among the 50 most influential women in Europe in the field of cybersecurity by the leading European cybersecurity magazine SC Media UK (2019). Mariya Gabriel is also known for her involvement in the fight for gender equality. Amongst others, she received the prestigious Italian prize “Golden Apple” for highest achievements for women. At the European Parliament, she was awarded twice the „MEP of the year“ - in 2016 in the Development category, and in 2013 in the Gender equality category.

She holds a Master‘s degree in political sciences and international relations from the Institute of Political Studies (Bordeaux, FR) and a Bachelor’s degree in Bulgarian and French Languages from “Paisii Hilendarski” University (Plovdiv, BG). She also graduated from “Dr.Petar Beron” Language High School (Kyustendil, BG).

4 Jens Spahn Minister of Health, Germany

Jens Spahn is a bank clerk and political scientist. Born in Ahaus in 1980, he was first elected to the German Bundestag in 2002, representing the Steinfurt I/ Borken I constituency. He served as health policy spokesperson of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag from 2009 to 2015 and, from July 2015 to March 2018, as Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Finance. On 14 March 2018, he was sworn in as Federal Minister of Health.

Spahn joined the Young Union (youth section of the CDU/CSU) in 1995 and the CDU in 1997. He has been chairperson of the Borken county branch of the CDU since 2005. In 2012, he became a member of the Federal Executive Committee of the CDU and was elected to the party’s Presidium at the CDU’s federal conference in Cologne in 2014.

From 2013 to 2017, he served as chairperson of the German-Netherlands Parliamentary Friendship Group. He is the editor of the book „Ins Offene - Deutschland, Europa und die Flüchtlinge“ (Into the Open – Germany, Europe and the Refugees) that was published in November 2015. Together with two physicians, he wrote the book „App vom Arzt – Bessere Gesundheit durch digitale Medizin“ (App your health – the benefits of digital medicine), which came out in September 2016.

Andrea Ammon Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)

Dr Andrea Ammon, MD, MPH, was appointed Director of ECDC in June 2017.

From April 2011 to April 2015, Andrea Ammon was Deputy to the Director and Head of Unit for Resource Management and Coordination. From May 2015, she was ECDC’s Acting Director.

Andrea joined ECDC as the Head of the Surveillance Unit in 2005. The unit was responsible for developing The European Surveillance System (TESSy), implementing a long-term surveillance strategy for the (EU), evaluating the Dedicated Surveillance Networks (DSN), performing step-by-step transfer of DSN activities to ECDC, revising the EU case definitions and producing an Annual Epidemiological Report on infectious diseases in the EU.

Prior to joining the ECDC, Dr Ammon served in several roles at the Robert Koch-Institute, in , Germany, most recently as Head of Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology. In this capacity, she maintained and further developed the German national surveillance system; coordinated the national outbreak response team for current and emerging infections; coordinated emergency planning for influenza; directed the national Field Epidemiology Training Programme; coordinated epidemiological research programmes in infectious diseases and provided scientific advice for government Ministries, Members of Parliament, and the public.

5 Dolors Montserrat Member of the European Parliament, Group of the European People’s Party, Spain

Dolors Montserrat is Member of the European Parliament since July 2019. She joined the European Parliament as Head of the EPP Spanish Delegation, Chair of the Committee on Petitions, Member of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), Co-chair of the Health Working Group at the ENVI Committee. In 2020, she also joined the EP Special Committee for Beating Cancer (BECA).

Ms Montserrat is the former Spanish Minister of Health, Social Services and Equality from 2016 to 2018. Before that she was the third Vice President of the Bureau of the Congress of Deputies in the X Legislature Deputy for Barcelona in the Congress of the IX, X, XI and XII legislatures.

She was also Councillor and spokesperson of the PP Group in the City Hall of Sant Sadurní d’Anoia from 2003 to 2015. Before entering politics, Ms Montserrat practiced as a Lawyer from 1997 to 2011, specialising in civil, property and family law.

Despina Spanou Head of Cabinet of Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas, European Commission

Despina Spanou is the Head of the Cabinet of the Vice-President of the European Commission overseeing the European Union’s policies on health, security, migration and asylum, skills, education, culture and sports.

Previously, she was Director for Digital Society, Trust and Cybersecurity at the Directorate-General for Communications Network, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT) of the European Commission. In this capacity, Mrs Spanou was responsible for the European Union’s digital health policy and R&I, connected cities and mobility, cybersecurity and digital privacy as well as eGovernment and electronic identification.

Despina Spanou has also been Director for Consumer Affairs at the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (2013-2017) in charge of consumer policy, consumer and marketing law, redress and enforcement and product safety. Prior to this position, she was Principal Adviser in the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers responsible for communication and strategies on managing chronic diseases including the EU‘s contribution to the UN General Assembly on Health.

She was the Deputy Head of Cabinet for the European Commissioner for Health and Consumers Mr Kyprianou (2004-2008) and for the Commissioner for Health Mrs Vassiliou (2008-2010). Despina Spanou started her career at the European Commission at the Directorate General for Competition (in 2003). She had previously practiced European law with the Brussels branch of a US law firm.

Despina Spanou is a member of the Athens Bar Association and holds a Ph.D. in European law from the University of Cambridge. She is Greek/Cypriot.

6 Nicola Bedlington Special Advisor, European Patients’ Forum

Nicola Bedlington has been EPF‘s Special Advisor since late April 2019. She used to be Secretary General of EPF, and was previously the Executive Director since the setting up of the EPF Secretariat in June 2006. She provides support to the leadership of EUPATI programme, PARADIGM project and DATA SAVES LIVES initiative. She also supports the Patient Access Partnership (PACT), and provides general advisory and strategic guidance.

Before joining EPF she worked as an external expert for the European Commission on disability policy and NGO cooperation and was the first Director of the European Disability Forum during the 90s. More recently she led the ENSI Secretariat, an OECD initiated international governmental network on education and sustainable development.

Rui Santos Ivo President of INFARMED, National Authority of Medicines and Healthcare Products, Portugal

Rui Santos Ivo has a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Lisbon (1987). He was a specialist in Hospital Pharmacy at the Ministry of Health (1992), and holds titles in the Pharmacist’s Association (2006 and 1997) and Pharmaceutical Regulation.

Mr Santos Ivo concluded postgraduate training in Health Law (Faculty of Law, University of Lisbon and National School of Public Health, 1997), Pharmaceutical Medicine (University of Basel, 1999), Regulation (London School of Economics and Political Science, 1999), Management Health Units (Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 2000), PADIS - Senior Management Program for Health Institutions (AESE Business School, Lisbon, 2015).

He started his professional career as a hospital pharmacist at Hospital de Egas Moniz, which is currently the Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Ocidental, in Lisbon. In 1993, he joined the National Authority for Medicines and Health Products, I. P. (INFARMED, I. P.), where he held the positions of member / vice-president (1994 -2000) and president (2002 -2005). He was administrator in the direction of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), London (2000-2002), as well as member of the Board of Directors of EMA (2002-2005). He was also first chairman of the European Union Medicines Authorities Coordination Group (2004-2005), administrator at the Pharmaceutical Products Unit / Directorate-General for Business and Industry, European Commission (2006 -2008).

Mr Santos Ivo also held the position of Executive Director of the Portuguese Pharmaceutical Industry Association (APIFARMA), which represents the pharmaceutical industry operating in Portugal (2008-2011). From November 2011 to September 2014, he served as vice president of the directive board of the Central Administration of the Health System, IP, with the responsibility of managing human resources and health resources, including the coordination of the area of the Invoice Conference (CCF).

Since 11 September 2014, Mr Santos Ivo has been the President of the Central Administration of the Health System, I. P., an entity responsible for the coordination of financial and human resources, management of benefits and organisation of health resources. He is an invited assistant professor, member of the coordinating committee of the master‘s degree in Regulation and Evaluation of Medicines and Health Products and responsible for Medicine Regulation at the Faculty of Pharmacy within the University of Lisbon.

In April 2004, he was awarded the Almofariz Award for „Personality of the Year 2004“ in the pharmaceutical sector. In 2014 he was appointed Correspondent European Member of the Académie de Pharmacie, France. Furthermore, in 2015 he received the Distinguished Services Medal - Gold Degree, by the Minister of Health. 7 Nathalie Moll Director General EFPIA

Nathalie Moll joined the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) as Director General in April 2017.

EFPIA represents the pharmaceutical industry operating in Europe. Together with its direct membership 40 leading pharmaceutical companies, 33 national associations representing over 1,900 companies and in collaboration with health and research players, EFPIA‘s mission is to create an environment that enables our members to innovate, discover, develop and deliver new therapies and vaccines for people across Europe, as well as contribute to the European economy.

Prior to joining EFPIA, between 2010 and 2017 Nathalie was the Secretary General of EuropaBio ranked as the most effective European Trade Association in Brussels in 2013. She spent over 20 years working for the biotech industry at EU and national level in associations and corporate positions and held the position of Chair and Vice Chair of the International Council of Biotech Associations (ICBA).

In 2013, Nathalie won the Technovisionaries Women Innovation Award organised by Women & Technologies® while in 2009, Nathalie and the Green Biotech Team of EuropaBio were presented with the Leadership and Excellence in Advancing Ag- Biotech and Food Issues Award. Nathalie was also named one of the 15 leading women in biotech in Europe in 2017.

Nathalie holds an Honours Degree in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from St Andrews University, Scotland.

Mary Lynne Van Poelgeest-Pomfret President World Federation of Incontinence Patients

Mary Lynne Van Poelgeest-Pomfret is a long-standing international patient advocate promoting the rights of patients at both national and international levels. As a member of several patient advocacy movements and organizations like International Alliance of Patient Organizations (IAPO) and European Patients Forum (EPF), she has organized several workshops and given numerous presentations at major international scientific and patient advocacy organizations. She is also a member of the EFPIA Patient Thinktank. She became Vice-Chair of European Forum for Good Clinical Practice (EFGCP) as of March 2017 and is keen to actively contribute to the work of EFGCP, primarily from the patient perspective.

Lynne became the President of World Federation of Incontinence and Pelvic Problems (WFIPP) in January 2011: an international umbrella organization dedicated to enhancing the rights of patients suffering from incontinence and pelvic floor dysfunction in general. In this capacity, the latest initiatives include a collaborative agreement with the European Association of Urology relating to patient advocacy issues and the upcoming project Support In Continence, to be launched October 2020.

She is also a Member of several scientific advisory committees and panels, including the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Association of Urology.

Lynne has a BA degree from the UK and a doctor’s Degree from Leiden University in the Netherlands. 8 Nicole Denjoy COCIR Secretary General

Nicole Denjoy is the COCIR Secretary General since 2005 and is based in Brussels. Nicole has gathered more than 35 years of experience in the medical technology industry, working for companies including L’air Liquide, Ohmeda, Boston Scientific and Baxter. Nicole has a Masters in Organisation and Change Management.

Nicole represents COCIR in a variety of influential fora at European Level as well as at international level. Nicole is also Chair of DITTA, the Global Trade Association representing Medical Imaging, Radiation Therapy and Healthcare IT Industry (www.globalditta.org) and leads the DITTA Industry voice in official relationships with WHO since DITTA was granted a NGO status in 2015 and leads the partnership between DITTA and the World Bank since 2016.

In addition, Nicole is Vice-Chair of the Business at OECD Health Committee representing the private business sector in front of the OECD Health Committee.

Ceri Thompson Deputy Head of Unit, DG CNECT H3 eHealth, Well-being and Ageing

Ceri Thompson is Deputy Head of the eHealth, Well-Being and Ageing Unit in DG CNECT. Ceri worked previously on international cooperation for Eurostat, and on health issues in DG SANTE.

Before joining the EU institutions, Ceri worked on global health policy at the UK’s Department for International Development, and for KPMG’s International Health Care management consultancy practice in London. She started her career working on a large, epidemiological field research project in Fortaleza, North East Brazil.

She studied mathematics at Durham University (UK). She has an MSc (medical statistics / epidemiology) and a DrPH (health economics) both from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

9 Dr. Silvano Coletti Managing Director Chelonia Applied Science and Project Innovation Manager Exscalate4COV

Since becoming CEO of Chelonia, Silvano Coletti has led a strategic and cultural transformation to build a leading innovation-driven company globally powered by access to the most brilliant minds and outstanding scientists. He introduced the most powerful cross-linked platform between innovation-driven companies and academia. Mathematica and computation is the theory revolutionizing projects‘ technology and science led by Chelonia.

Backed by training as engineer and executive education at Harvard Business School, Silvano is a former student of Prof.Ilya Prigogine (Nobel laureate 1977) at Institute Solvay (Belgium) and fellow at EPFL (Switzerland). He seats on boards of scientific committees and corporate advisory boards. Silvano’s passion for innovation and social entrepreneurship is evident: in addition to his career at Chelonia, he worked with the largest NGOs in Africa where he served as delegate at the United Nations.

Silvano is project innovation manager in the EU-funded consortium Exscalate4COV that uses a supercomputing platform to check the potential impact of known molecules against the genomic structure of the coronavirus.

Gözde Susuzlu Data Saves Lives coordinator, European Patients’ Forum

Gözde joined EPF in March 2019 as the coordinator of „Data Saves Lives“ initiative, and is currently Project Coordinator at EPF. She manages the DSL portal, formulates and implements EPF‘s contribution to projects and handles technical and progress reports related to projects.

A Turkish citizen residing in Belgium, she has a post-graduate degree in international communications from Vrije Universiteit Brussel - VUB. Before joining EPF, she worked for ten years as a web manager at an international organization in Brussels.

Marcus Zimmermann-Rittereiser COCIR Digital Health Committee Chair and Siemens Healthineers

Marcus Zimmermann-Rittereiser is the Senior Vice-President for Patient Care Management at Digital Health of Siemens Healthineers.

He has a Diploma in Biomedical Engineering and a Master of Business and Marketing (MBM) in Business Economics. He has more than 30 years of experience in International Healthcare and Healthcare IT, and has held various management positions at Siemens Healthineers at Regional offices and Headquarters.

He is acting as Chair of the Digital Health Committee and as Chair of the Artificial Intelligence in Health Task Force at COCIR.

10 Jacqueline Bowman-Busato EASO EU Policy Lead

Ms Jacqueline Bowman-Busato is the EU Policy Lead at EASO (European Association for the Study of Obesity) based in Brussels.

She also leads the team for the scientific Secretariat OPEN-EU (Obesity Policy Engagement Network). She has worked in the Brussels environment for the past 24 years towards transforming health ecosystems from policy to reality.

A pioneer of multi-stakeholder coalition building for societal impact, Jacqueline has previously worked for an MEP, run the expert secretariat of a European Parliamentarian Interest Group, Headed up the Brussels office of a global NGO, transformed a patient-led Platform into an equally-weighted multi-stakeholder Think Tank for Patients, Science and Industry.

Nicolae Ștefănuță Member of the European Parliament, Renew Europe Group, Romania

He is a Vice-President of the Delegation for relations with the United States. He is also Substitute member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, on the Delegation to the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee, the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee and of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.

Among his areas of interest as a MEP are: climate change, foreign policy, security, public health, European budget and European rights.

Nicolae Ștefănuță is the Vice-President of the Union to Save Romania party and he has been serving as a Member of the European Union since 2019.

He is a graduate of the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy, where he obtained a Master of policy management degree. He has a bachelor‘s degree in economics, obtained in Timișoara, Romania and a master‘s in advanced international studies at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Austria and in European studies from the University of Vienna.

He began his professional career working for the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Once Romania joined the European Union in 2007, Nicolae started his European career working for the European Parliament in various public policy areas, including budget and agriculture policy, as well as in the area of Transatlantic relations for the European Parliament‘s Delegation for relations with the United States.

11 Melitta Jakab Head Of Office of the WHO European Center For Primary Health Care located in Almaty, Kazakhstan

Melitta Jakab has twenty years of experience in health system strengthening supporting countries to move towards Universal Health Coverage through stronger primary health care and better health financing policies.

She has been co-director of the Barcelona Courses on Health Systems Strengthening and Health Financing.

She is co-editor of Health Systems Respond to NCDs: Time for Ambition (Jakab, Farrington, Borgermans, Mantingh, WHO Regional Office for Europe 2018) and of Implementing Health Financing Reform: Lessons from Countries in Transition (Kutzin, Cashin and Jakab, European Observatory, 2010). She has a PhD from Harvard University and M.Sc. in Health Policy for the Harvard School of Public Health.

Nick Batey EUREGHA Chair

Nick Batey leads European and International engagement for the Health and Social Care Department in Wales, UK and is Chair of EUREGHA.

He has worked extensively in driving technology-enabled change in regional government, health & local government. He was seconded to the European Commission for 5 years to help drive European policies and programmes in eHealth, eInclusion and eGovernment.

He has worked with board level teams in the public and private sector to accelerate the use of digital technology to deliver benefits to citizens, improve the sustainability of public services and help boost markets for innovative products and services.

He has delivered successful regional digital strategies and implementation programmes ranging from setting up a new regional assembly (National Assembly of Wales) to implementing large-scale hospital and community systems. In 2016, he led the Welsh bid for EIPonAHA Reference Site, which was awarded 4 stars.

12 Paola Testori Coggi Special Advisor, National Technological Cluster on Life Sciences (ALISEI) Former Director General for Health and Consumers, European Commission

Paola Testori Coggi has been Director General for Health and Consumer until 2014; among her achievements, the legislation on cross-border health care and on pharmaceuticals and medical devices, the European Reference Networks on rare diseases and the promotion of health as an investment for growth, the White Paper on food safety, the creation of the European Food Safety Authority.

After having returned to Italy, she has worked for the Ministry of Health as President of the Pharmaceuticals Committee of the Italian Medicines Agency until September 2018. She is President of the Valletta Technical Committee on cooperation for better access to medicines.

Paola Testori Coggi is Special Advisor of the Italian Technological Cluster on Life Sciences. She is professor in EU Health policy at the Master Studies of the European College of Parma and member of the Advisory Committee of the European Health Forum Gastein.

Normunds Popens Deputy Director General for Implementation in the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission

Since 2011, Normunds Since 2011, Normunds Popens is the Deputy Director General for Implementation in the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission and in charge of overseeing the implementation of structural and cohesion fund programmes in EU member states and candidate countries.

Before joining the European Commission in March 2011 he has occupied several posts in the Latvian diplomatic services.

Notably from 2007 until 2011, he was a Permanent Representative of Latvia to the EU.

Before that he dealt with European affairs as Undersecretary of State of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has been also responsible for the issues of foreign trade and transatlantic relations and has worked as an Ambassador in Norway, Iceland and in the USA as a diplomat.

13 Wilfried Ellmeier BioMed Alliance President

Prof. Wilfried Ellmeier is President of the Biomedical Alliance in Europe and Professor of Immunobiology at the Medical University in Vienna. Wilfried Ellmeier studied biochemistry at the University of Vienna.

He carried out his master thesis and Ph.D. thesis at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP Vienna) and graduated 1994 from the University of Vienna. During his postdoctoral studies at the Skirball Institute (NYU Medical Center) in New York he became interested in studying molecular mechanisms that regulate the development and function of immune cells. In the year 2000, he established his own independent research group at the Institute of Immunology, Medical University of Vienna.

Wilfried Ellmeier was appointed in 2007 to a Full Professor of Immunobiology and since then he is heading the Division of Immunobiology at the Institute of Immunology. His research interests focus on transcriptional control mechanisms that regulate T cell development and peripheral T cell differentiation/function, and on understanding the role of histone deacetylases in the control of T cell-mediated immunity.

He received several prizes including the START program award for highly qualified young scientist from the Austrian Science Fund and the Novartis award for biology. In 2012 he was elected as a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Prof. Martin Landray Member of the Regulatory Affairs Committee, European Society of Cardiology

Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford. He has many roles including: research director of Health Data Research UK, co- principal investigator in the Recovery trial and lead in the Good Clinical Trials Collaborative.

14 Dr. Cristina Bescos Managing Director, EIT Health Spain

Managing director of EIT Health Spain, which aims to foster innovation by supporting health innovators across Europe. She has extensive experience in European research.

Sabrina Montante Senior Advisor-EU Affairs, ISS- National Institute of Health, Italy

Senior EU Policy Advisor and Strategic Project Consultant at the Instituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS). She advises the ISS on a variety of health policy and research issues and is actively involved in the coordinating team of the TO REACH project.

Cathy Smith Moderator, Founding Partner Speak-Easy

Cathy Smith is a founding partner of the Brussels communications company Speak-Easy. Cathy specialises in conference moderating and media/crisis training for a wide range of international clients.

She is a former Brussels-based news correspondent for both the BBC and Reuters/GMTV and was a presenter of Channel Four News and ITN World News in the UK. She also presented European Journal for DeutscheWelle TV and reported for Radio New Zealand in Auckland and for RTHK in Hong Kong.

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